


The Crack

by TerranMyHeart



Category: Steven Universe (Cartoon)
Genre: F/F
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-03-04
Updated: 2016-03-04
Packaged: 2018-05-24 18:03:51
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,398
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6161908
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TerranMyHeart/pseuds/TerranMyHeart
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>This is a one-shot thing I guess? Idk it's short and gay and I hope you enjoy it :33</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Crack

It felt like it had been light years. 

Well, as Amethyst would have said, light years measures light, not years.

Pearl smiled at the memory as she sat on the couch in the house, laughing to herself about how Amethyst had almost perfectly corrected her. Unfortunately, Amethyst had meant distance, not light. Therefore she could still assume her position of always being correct. Right? Right.

...That is, only if Amethyst came back.

The purple gem sat on the coffee table in front of her, the form made of said light no longer being projected around it. A thin, silvery crack ran through the middle, forcing Pearl to look away for fear of crying. It would be time to take her to Rose’s fountain soon, but Steven insisted on grabbing a snack for Amethyst when she regenerates. After all, she HAD regenerated the last time they set her in the the pool, and Pearl couldn’t argue against anything that would make Amethyst feel a little better.

“Let’s go, Pearl! We gotta heal Amethyst!” Steven scampered up to her, slinging the backpack shaped like a cheeseburger over his shoulder. 

“I still misunderstand the point of a backpack shaped like food.” Pearl stood, stretching her long legs and carefully lifting Amethyst’s gem in her pale hands, talking just to get her mind off of the fracture in the perfectly smooth exterior. 

“It’s just fun, Pearl! I guess you’d have to like food to understand. After all, Amethyst likes it!” The kid grinned, but it disappeared with haste. “Man, she’d tell you if she were here right now. Are we going?”

Garnet, sitting at the kitchen counter, nodded and stood as well. “Don’t worry, Steven. Let’s go.”

“Why didn’t you try to heal her yourself, Steven?” Pearl gently rested her hand on his back while clutching the purple gem to her chest, guiding him to the warp pad after Garnet.

“Well, see….uhhh….actually, I don’t know! Do you want me to?” 

Pearl studied the gem now in both of her hands, the fine crack traveling through and branching into smaller lines as they continued. “I…”

Garnet noticed how tightly the gem was being held. “Steven, I’ve a feeling that’s not going to happen.”

“Why not?” Steven frowned and looked up at the tallest gem.

“We love your powers, Steven, and they work. But Pearl wants to do this herself.”

“Aww, okay.” The kid seemed a little dejected, but it turned back around the instant Garnet offered to let him warp the four (….three?) of them there.

\----------

The backpack was left behind by the fountain, and Pearl sat alone while studying the violet gem settled in Rose’s tears. It had been a few hours already, and Amethyst hadn’t returned yet. Steven and Garnet had to return home; the smallest gem had begun to yawn so hard that Pearl wondered at how he was still awake. So, she elected to stay behind and keep the gem company, partially by Steven’s request and partially by her own necessity to. 

The crack was gone already, the small fissure in the surface had disappeared like an erased pencil mark. But Amethyst had still not returned. 

And it had been five hours.

Dutifully, Pearl continued to sit at the fountain edge, beginning to overthink. 

What if Amethyst came back and something was wrong? What if Amethyst came back and asked Pearl why she was still waiting? Why they weren’t at home? Or...what if Amethyst never came back? What would the team do without her? Garnet would be distraught, and Steven would most certainly be the same. ‘Distraught’ wouldn’t even cover it. The truth was that they were akin to those families that humans always situated themselves in, Pearl realized. 

But she was mostly just trying not to think of how she herself would feel about it if Amethyst never came back.

Pearl curled into a ball, hugging her knees to her chest and continuing to watch the gem in front of her with her head still whirling. 

\----------

Night time fell a few hours ago. Amethyst still hadn’t regenerated.

Pearl had begun to busy herself with picking up spare thorn bits and other messy, dead plant debris from around the pool and transporting them away. She found a branch from just outside the area that was *just* right for sword practice. A hologram Pearl or two proved worthy opponents, keeping her head distracted from the missing gem. 

The fight against her thoughts and the holo-Pearls seemed to continue forever, but she had trained for longer before. Think about the training, Pearl. Don’t worry about Amethyst. There’s nothing you can do.

....There’s nothing you can do.

Her petite body was tossed to the side by a blow from the holo-Pearl opponent. It declared her the loser and asked if she would like to duel again. 

Instead of responding, the holo-Pearl dissipated with a sharp intake of breath from the real one, her eyes shutting tight. Pale hands flew to her eyes, willing herself not to cry over this. Amethyst would be okay, stop worrying so much. But of course that just forced her to only worry more. Tears leaked from behind her palms, running down the side of her face as gentle sniffs began drifting their way into the air around her. She rotated on her side, curling up as she had before and continuing to cover her eyes. Nothing could be seen.

Ah, yes. Nothing could be seen. Therefore she failed to notice the bright light emanating from the fountain water, its shining whiteness permeating the entire area around as different shapes were created, cycling through previous bodies and forms until it became just right.

Pearl didn’t hear the gentle tap of Amethyst’s boots against the fountain wall.

But she DID hear the small gem speak.

“Yo, did someone other than you buy the last bottle a’ toilet cleaner at the store or something?”

Amethyst was nearly knocked to the ground with all the speed and force Pearl closed the distance with. The pale gem’s arms were wrapped tightly around Amethyst, her face buried deep into that great mass of unruly gray hair that always seemed to need a good brushing. Pearl made a mental note to do that for her when they got back.

“Holy shit, P, they’ll get more, I promise.” The small gem laughed a little and gently hugged her back, running a hand up and down Pearl’s spine. 

“Language.” Pearl managed to breathe, somehow tightening her vice on the purple gem as more tears managed to escape.

“Aight, aight, my bad. You okay tho? What’s your deal, man?”

Pale hands gripped her shoulders now as light blue eyes stared into Amethyst’s deeper blue ones. “Don’t EVER take that long again.”

“Woah, I thought you wanted me to take my time though…?” The smaller one cocked an eyebrow, gently laying a hand on Pearl’s arm.

“I do, I do, I just…” Light blue eyes were shut tight once again, and soon they were buried once again in that mass of gray hair, a huff escaping small lips. 

“Awwww, you missed me,” Amethyst grinned now, hugging Pearl back tight, “You care about me~”

“I do, Amethyst, I really do.” Pearl muttered quietly, almost so the smaller one couldn’t hear.

But she did. Amethyst smiled a little and buried her face in Pearl’s shoulder as best she could. “You don’t have to do that, y’know. I ain’t worth panicking over.”

“I beg to differ.” Pearl spoke resolutely, like her mind couldn’t be changed. Amethyst knew that tone. She wouldn’t argue with it, either. 

Now she was blushing, hugging Pearl somehow even tighter and mumbling something against the clothing melded to the taller gem’s body. 

“Hm?” Pearl asked gently, running her fingers shakily through the huge mass of grayish hair.

“Thanks, I guess…” It was still almost inaudible, Pearl could barely make it out.

“It’s no problem, Amethyst,” the taller one pressed her lips carefully against the top of the small one’s head in a sudden, brave gesture of care. They lingered there before she spoke again, letting go but leaving a hand on her purple shoulder. “How about we go home and make you some food? I’ve a feeling you’re probably hungry.”

“Damn right I am! Man, you know what’s up. Let’s go!”

With that, the moment ended, Amethyst had returned, and everything would be okay.


End file.
